1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates generally to data terminals for communicating over telephone circuits, and more particularly, but not by way of limitation, to a terminal for communicating with a telephone operations and administrative system, one specific type of which is referred to as a craft technician's portable field terminal through which telephone maintenance dispatches and reports are made.
2. Description of the Prior Art
In the telephone industry, individuals, referred to as craft technicians, are utilized in the field traveling from site to site where telephone instruments or telephone facility problems are found. Typically, maintenance requests are collected at a central location and then dispatched to different individuals for attention. Once a problem has been attended to, the craft technician must report results back to the central location.
Computerization of such maintenance systems has enabled the craft technicians to receive dispatches and submit reports without having to travel to and from or to verbally communicate with the central maintenance location. The craft technician can now communicate with the central location through a hand-held portable field terminal such as is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,837,811 in the name of Butler et al. This computerized maintenance system along with the advent of the technician's field terminal has significantly improved the efficiency of telephone systems.
Although terminals such as the type disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,837,811 have proved advantageous, there are additional needs to be met to enhance further the utility of such terminals. One such need is to enable such terminals to receive programs, such as applications programs which the technician may wish to call up in order to perform a specific task (e.g., creating and filling out a time sheet), which are downloaded over conventional telephone circuits. In order to save time, the technician no longer need take the terminal into the central office in order to be reprogrammed over a high speed data link, but he can download additional programs directly to the terminal at its remote location via the existing telephone circuit.